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I spent quite some time on this and the best solution I found was just good gutter maintenance. Look for one of these telescoping things that goes on to your garden hose, you can blast all the junk out with that.

i second this. I live in Oregon and up here in the Pacific NW we have a lot of rain and evergreen foliage to deal with. I have found that the absolute best way to maintain them is simply manual cleaning. The problem is more than just clogging of drain pipes, it extends all the way to alge/fungal/corrosion issues as well which can be accelerated without proper drainage :\ I had pinholes develop in the gutters due to corrosion which eventually led to water dripping down the side of the house...expensive fix!

I install the wire mesh style gutter guards and haven't had any complaints on the water shedding capabilities of this type. I use a Semco wire mesh gutter screen. They have enough louvers, that are big enough to do a good job.

We used smart screen brand gutter guards. (small holes). They work well everywhere except where a valley dumps more than average water on the gutter. There, because they're smooth, the water will flow too fast over the guard to the ground below.

Why not solve the problem at the source? Trim back the pine branches that are hanging over the house. Pine needles generally don't float the way that deciduous leaves do so if they're not over your house then you won't have needles. As a bonus, it'll also prevent pine sap and small critters from making their way onto/into your house.